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Notes From Mission Road

Mission is alive and well within me. Indeed, it pulses through my veins and charges my spirit to move forward and… yes, often right to my edge.

Wow, it’s amazing how just 10 years ago I embarked on a drastically different journey in my life. Almost abruptly (it seems), I took a hard right turn and dove off a cliff into an abyss never imagined – into myself. It was hell and heaven all at once. And yet through all the darkness of my unknown, I emerged onto vast plains of countless possibilities. I could see forever. What once eclipsed my vision had lifted, revealing a man that had long stared back at me in the mirror, yet I could not see.

He was full of light which pulsed with his loving heart. He was beautiful.

It was rebirth. I will never forget that time of my life. It was 10 years ago – November, 2001. I had just completed my New Warrior Training Adventure with the ManKind Project.

Happy anniversary to me!

Today I cleaned my desk off and in the process created an area very special to me. It’s only a few photos, but together they collaborate to reveal a process, a journey that has led me to this point. I have great joy for the story they tell.

The two drawings on the top (click to enlarge) I created right after multiple visualization processes. It was an exercise that explored what I am here to do and the imagery came from somewhere other than my left brain. There was nothing rational about it. It just came out through my hand. In looking back, the imagery makes perfect sense.

It amazes me how much I know, even though I don’t know I know.

The photo in the middle was taken about 8 years after those drawings were created. It is of the first Out group that Boys to Men Georgia held in Atlanta. It is symbolic of what happens when I put my passion and love to work for me. By employing these two huge creative forces and focusing them in a direction that screams due north for me, I have experienced living more fully and with purpose. The rewards are immense. My cup runneth over…

And then there’s the last two photos (click to enlarge):

From a deer in the headlights to an Elk with purpose.
(Pre and post rites of passage)

These were taken the same weekend, about 40 hours apart. On the left was on Friday night and on the right was Sunday afternoon of my rites of passage weekend. 40 hours may as well have been a lifetime. The photos speak for themselves.

So today I am eternally grateful for change. And reminded that it all starts with choice. I chose to change my life and actively begin living my mission. I answered the call – the call to adventure.

The classic Hero’s Journey.

Currently I am Program Director of Boys to Men Mentoring of Georgia (see links below) – a non-profit organization I co-founded with some other great men. It is a huge joy to give back by helping guide teenage boys through the forest of their adolescence. I am humbled constantly by the courage these young guys show up with. It is the most fulfilling work I’ve ever been part of.

May I find a way to awaken other men to their mentoring heart.

Another way that I live my mission is to bring others together to inspire, explore and celebrate, most often in rhythmic space. My wife, Charlotte, and I, under the identity of Village Events, are bringing rhythm circles to the elderly, the school children, to those with special needs, and other groups that yearn for connection and may also have specific intentions. It is a joy to play in this magical place and witness what results.

Thank you ManKind Project for helping launch me on my way. It’s been a sweet 10 years. I am now a rich man with unlimited power drawn from the realization of my own flawed beauty, and now through my boundless joy, my loving heart, my unbridled enthusiasm (passion), respect for integrity, and a devotion to commitment.

This beautiful post that you wrote on 11/13 has been holding space as an open tab in my browser – waiting until I had the time (i.e., was in the right space) to read it.

Today I see you. As I do, I am in this very moment, at the intersection of my birthday, a few days away, and the soul-shifting contractions of spiritual rebirth. Your words reached out and gave me support as move into this new life of my own creation.

I am so grateful for you and I am so moved by this particular expression of your journey, because it is congruent with the authenticity and courage that I have experienced as I have witnessed you live your life.

I have longed to reach out further to you and to Charlotte, and have always found myself covered over with obligations. If both of you would like to, I would love to meet over a meal sometime so we can share more.